Forgotten History
by Corrupted-Quartz
Summary: Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. While working on a way to cure corrupted gems a dark history is found and a even darker secret is revealed. Unbeta'd in search of a beta. Ignore all grammar and spelling errors.


**Chapter One**

A full moon started to rise high into the sky, rising high over the calm ocean that made little to no noise even as the water lapped a the sandy shoe. The stars were shining brightly this not, not a single cloud blotted the sky. It seemed that for once the entire world was experience a rare moment of perfect calmness, something that rarely ever happened. There was no monster attacking the city, there was no impending threat from the stars. It was such a rare moment of peace something Pearl wished could never end.

She rarely sat on the roof of the house, she had forgotten about how beautiful the stars were. How long had she been living on earth now? Nearly six thousand years of watching the earth change and grow. But the stars never did, they had stayed the same after so many years. Even after all this time she knew exactly where to look to find the bright glowing light that was home world. A heavy breath escaped her lips as she leaned back on her hands, the wind blowing through her hair as she watched each twinkling light.

They had returned to earth after Yellow and Blue Diamond had rescued Steven from White Diamonds hold, saying that it wasn't safe for Steven to be on home world, not now not when White was acting so strangely. Even Pearl was concerned, sure she hadn't seen the oldest diamond in thousands of years but Yellow and Blue had barely changed over that time, sure Yellow was a little stricter and Blue was always the first one to start crying. But from what Steven had said White didn't even give him a chance to talk and all her answers seemed programmed and robotic in tone.

It didn't feel right, nothing felt right anymore. She didn't have to hide the truth about Pink Diamond anymore she was free, she was able to finally move passed it all. But she felt more trapped then every before, oh how she wished she could fly into the stars and just vanish. But that was not in the stars, no she was needed on earth. She had to fix everything she and Pink had done.

The first step in fixing what they had done was curing the corrupted gems. All the bubbles they had collected over the years needed to be freed, they needed to be cured. They had been able to bring Centi back, almost completely but they still couldn't find a way to make her whole, at least whole without all three of the diamonds touching the small confused gem.

It seemed like a lost cause, until Yellow and Blue started sending a wave of supplies for them to use. All new technology that they had never seen before, Peridot had been foaming at the mouth when she say the top of the line technology. Yellow had claimed that if they needed anything all they had to do was call, but she warned them that they had to be sneaky about it.

The fear of White Diamond finding out and stopping them was a fear everyone felt in their stomachs now, No one wanted to give the matriarch a chance had squashing their attempts to fix what they were doing. Pearl had taken the chance to use the computers to devel deep into the history of gem kind, if they learned everything they could about White Diamond the better the could defend themselves against her.

"There are just so many things I need to fix, how am I supposed to move on from all of this. Every time I think that I'm moving forward and finally getting away from everything I did and some, in some horrid way it's thrown back in my face and I'm forced to relive those horrid memories over and over again. I just want to be happy, why can't I just be happy?"

"The stars don't have the answer Pearl" Jumping in surprise Pearl turned to face Gernet, their leader the one who had to keep it all together and make sure no one fell apart.

Sighing softly Pearl held her knees to her chest "They may not have the answers I need but they calm me, what we're doing.. What we're trying to fix.. It's all because of what me and Rose did so many years ago. If we hadn't been so stupid, if we had taken a moment to question our choices we could of stopped so many gems being shattered or corrupted, we could of change everything" She explained as she slammed her fists on the roof. "It's not fair. I'm stuck here living with the guilt of the choices we made, she promised me she would always be here with me, that we would fix it. But it was another one of her lies, as soon as she figured out how to get away she did, vanished, gone, leaving me to clean up the mess"

Garnet sighed as she put a hand on Pearls shoulder and shook her head "Rose did a lot of things that hurt all of us, but we have a serious chance at fixing it all now. We have help from the Diamonds, they didn't even know that gems had survived their blast. We have the best chance in the galaxy to bring our lost friends back. We can't let the past hold us back"

"You're right, I just.. I just wish she was here. Steven has to to deal with so many things it's just not fair to him… It's not fair to any of us that she was able to get away from dealing with it" Pearl muttered as she looked down at the ground, she was bitter about it.

"It's not, but we will deal with it. Like we've been dealing with it since Steven was born" Garnet smiled as she looked up at the stars "Tomorrow we're going to try Peridots new experiment on Centi, see if it helps at all. For all we know we might be able to start bring gems back, we can finally start fixing things"

Nodding her head Pearl stood up, stretching her arms above her head. Licking her lips she nodded her head "I'm going to head over to the barn and continuing to do research on White, see if I can anymore about her. Maybe there's a link to corruption in her history" She explained as she jumped off the roof, landing on the ground gently. Waving goodbye Pearl head into the house, Steven was asleep in his bed snoring softly. The last few days had been long and hard; for everyone. Pearl had no idea how he had been able to keep up with everyone, he truly was growing up before her eyes.

Standing over his bed for a few moments Pearl couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face, he was such a sweet boy. Someone able to forgive and forget, it always surprised her how well he adapted to the events going on around him. Pulling his Blanket up and tucking him in she kissed his forehead and turned towards the warp pad.

Arriving at the galaxy warp Pearl was met with a familiar sit, several crystal pads with cracks and chips missing from them. Glowing lines that circled around each pad and connected them together with several lines. Large stone pillars standing high above the outer rim and dropped into the water below.

The warm light surrounded her form and slowly lifted her up into the air, arriving at the galaxy warp Pearl was met with a familiar sit, several crystal pads with cracks and chips missing from them. Glowing lines that circled around each pad and connected them together with several lines. Large stone pillars standing high above the outer rim and dropped into the water below. They had been keeping all of the new technology on the galaxy warp, somewhere they could access with easy but gave them the space to spread out their work without stepping on each other. They had set up several towers, each terminal had a several screens that a gem could interact with along with a console. Large floating chairs so a gem could do their research in comfort and several robonoids sat in their storage stations ready to follow commands if they were summoned.

Several large white boards and chalk boards were off to the side with pieces of information written down or taped down on a scrap piece of paper, on the board in the middle was a drawing of a collar. A device that they were hoping to use the energy from each diamond to help fight the corruption that infected a gem. The only flaw was finding a way to keep the device constantly powered without having to take it off and risk the gem reverted back into their corrupted state

Other little things that were scattered about the room were simple human tools, Re-stabilizing capacitors just in case and a few their basic tools from both earth and home world that had ended up serving a purpose even if it was a small one

Everything was either yellow or blue in color, to show which diamond had given what items. The only things that were different were the robonoids which were colored green.

In the center of the room as large programmers table that had several robotic arms, several goggles and welding tools scattered all around the edges, the table had several versions of the collar sitting in different stages of set up. Only one was nearly complete, they just needed power, something sustainable.

Sighing Pearl slowly sat down in her large chair, the screens flashing to life in front of her causing her to squint. Why did everything from home world have to be so bright and shiny. Shaking her hands she cracked her knuckles before putting her hands on the keypads, her eyes filling with information as she leaned back in her chair.

The diamonds had done something that Pearl hadn't expected. They had connected a couple of the terminal stations to home world giving them crystal gems access to every single file that was saved in their archives. Years and years of history were meer inches from Pearls finger tips. Blue had explained that maybe there was something in their history to explain corruption, how it had come to be and if there was a cure.

The only downside was there was no clear idea of where to start, the diamonds rarely worried themselves about documenting history. Usually leaving it to their Pearls and Peridots, the only time they would really look back was during a trial or if they wanted to double check the statistics of their invasion force on similar planets.

So Pearl had taken it upon herself to try and dig through the thousands of years of information. She had only been able to go back a few thousand years of history, finding each file had been a trial and required effort. It seemed that the files had been hidden as deep as possible, like someone didn't want them to be found. Pearl was blown away when she found herself going passed what she knew, how much time had passed on home world? She had never thought about it, homeworld was something she thought she would never see again. Something she would never really have a chance to talk about again. But here she was in a room filled with things from home world with access to the history of her old planet at her fingertips.

"I'm surprised that you're here" Yet again Pearl found her startled out of her train of thought, shaking her head and turning around to face the other person in the rom. "I see you're also burning the candle at both ends"

"I don't know what you mean" Peridots tone was blunt and montone as she carried several clear crystals across the room. Setting them down on the programmers table.

Sighing Pearl removed her hands shutting down the screen she had been reading through, standing up and walking over to the table "It's an earth idiom, it means that you're going none stop and pushing yourself to your limits"

"I see.." the smaller gem rolled her eyes as she started sorting through the crystals. Grabbing a small black loupe magnifying glass Peridot started to scan over each crystal, inspecting every like crevice of them crystal. Her thumb running over any cracks or creases that might risk causing damage to the experiment.

Walking over to the table Pearl looked over the crystals, picking one up and looking it over. "What are the crystals for?"

"Batteries, if we can somehow find a way to get the diamonds powers to charge these crystals we can attach them to the collars. Then they wouldn't have to constantly touch the gem. The only flaw is Steven will need to figure out how to charge the crystals as well." She explained as she replaced the small loupe with a pair of large goggles that had a stronger magnifying power. "But first I need to build a recharge capacitor that can transfer the raw power of the diamonds into these tiny things."

"So we need to build a stabilizer and a device that can measure just how much the crystal can handle. We also need to rework the collars to have a slot for the crystals to be connected, but at the same time protected. If we leave them exposed the crystals can easily be ripped off and cause them gem to revert" Walking around the table Pearl picked up one of the collars, her fingers running over the smooth surface.

The collar itself was rather bulky, it look like a good two inch wide band that was an inch or so thick. It had a smooth metal surface but if someone knew where to press and touch small panels would open up exposing the inner works and wires. The current collar was basic, just a blank design really. Without a suitable power source there was no way of knowing what the fully finished collar would look like. Pulled from her thought Pearl sighed as she set the collar down on the table before looking over at Peridot.

"Peridot.. How long have you been alive?"

"In earth years? Only about four thousand. Gem production came to a halt after the war on earth. Back when they thought Pink was well.. Rose Quartz they took the time to go through each line of programing in a gem creation. Removing anything and everything they thought caused the rebellion, while at the same time they stopped making Rose Quartz soldiers" She muttered as she started to grab pieces and scraps of metal around the room.

"An while they were going through that reprograming the also used as a way to help stretch the resources, since it's becoming harder and harder to find planets for them to use to create soldiers. It's easier to build things like limb enhancers or have weapons made then give a gem the ability to summon a weapon"

"Wait you can't summon a weapon?"

"No, I also can't shapeshift. Era two gems are as basic as you can get. If you look at an Era two Pearl verse well.. You, they can't shapeshift, they lack the ability to use computers, they have no desire to use weapons and they're made to be a slave that never talks back or suggests anything. They just do as they're told"

Pearl flinched as she looked down, her eyes covered by shadows "So everything that made a gem unique is gone.. Their just the most basic being they can be just so they don't rebel against the diamonds again" gripping her elbow she felt her something heavy drop into the pit of her stomach, was it really as bad as Peridot claimed it to be. How could a gem be a gem when they were stripped of everything that made them a gem.

"Well.. Yes, but I think it was something that would've happened no matter what. There just isn't enough resources to build gems. Home world still hasn't recovered from the war here on earth, both sides lost thousands of gems and both sides have to deal with the choices" She explained as she dropped all of her supplies on the table and climbing up the steps that had been placed on the side for her to use.

"I guess.. I just hope we can figure out how to make these devices to work and start bringing back the gems we can" A resource shortage? There were millions of planets out there, sure Pearl had only seen a handful of them, she had seen a couple planets that looked like they were nothing create thousands of gems with ease. It didn't make sense that diamonds would pull back production so harshly due to lack of supplies.

"Pfft, With all the supplies the diamonds have given us and the surprising tech that earth has to offer I'm sure I will figure out what to do" Peridot puffed out her chest as she continued to work, sparks flying as she started welding metal together.

"Peridot! You shouldn't be welding here! You risk damaging everything we set up the welding booth over there!" Pearl snapped as she quickly shut down Peirdots machine. Was she trying to melt everything around her? How had Peridot survived so long with seriously injuring herself and anyone else around her.

"What are you doing! If I don't finish this line the seam will be weak!" Peridot snapped as she smack Pearls hand away and turned the machine back on. "Don't touch my stuff! I don't go into the house and start turning things on and off when you're trying to clean!"

"No you take everything apart and try to figure out how it works and then can't be bothered to put any of it back together! I had to explain to Greg two times why we needed a new vacuum, because when you take something apart you make it nearly impossible for anyone to put it back together!" Growling Pearl rubbed her hand before turning the machine off again and unplugging it, lifting it up and walking across the room setting it down in the small welding booth they had built out of yellow blinds, Greg had explained that these blinds were used to help protect people from the blinding lights and stray sparks that could shoot off the metal while someone worked.

"I was trying to improve it! Why does it have such a small opening. It takes so long having to vacuum everything with that small thing. I figured if I could over power the motor and increase the bag size you could have a large head on the end of it and be able to suck up twice, if not three times as much dirt and save yourself hours at a time!" Peridot exclaimed as she crossed her arms while crossing her arms over her chest.

"You never put it back together! You took the first one apart and left it in the middle of the room for a week. An as soon as I got a second one you took that one apart to just to see if it would have the pieces you needed to improve the first one!"

Muttering under her breath Peridot tossed the piece she had been working on to the floor, gathering up the rest of her supplies and following behind Pearl. "If I had the barn I wouldn't have to work here and worry about you looking over my shoulder every second of the day" she hissed as she dropped her supplies to the floor. "If I had the barn I would have access to all the tools I had constructed, because some of these humans tools are worthless and don't do what I need them to do and this Homeworld tech? Who designed some of this trash!" she snapped as she tossed a large metal device that Pearl couldn't even recall the name of, it just looked bulky and pointless for anything involving delicate work.

"If you had the barn to work in then I wouldn't have to listen to you constantly complaining about everything" Pearl muttered as she reconnected the welder and turned in back on, turning to to leave back to her seat. "I will leave you to your work, I'm going to go back to searching through the archives, I want to know what caused White to change"

Peridot snorted as she turned to look at Pearl "She decided that perfection is the most important thing. She wants future gems to be perfect, incapable of being flawed. It's why her court holds all the gems that are near perfection. She can study them and see what she can improve on. But in her desire to make things better she has made so many things worse. I should be taller, I should be able to move metal, I should be able to shapeshift I should be able to do everything you do and more and I just can't. Seeing how you and the others have been able to use your powers so freely is… maddening, Lapis is able to just fly away when she wants and even take an entire barn with her! " Peridot grunted as she covered her face with her goggles and went back to work. Her shoulders tense as she work, Lapis had still not apologized for taking away their home, her home the one place on the entire planet that she felt safe and able to just be herself without worry.

Pearl stared at the smaller gem for a moment, sighing softly as she shook her head. Sitting down in her chair and looking up at her screens. Slowly setting her hands down on the keypads, there was no way it was that simple. It was one thing to strive to be perfect. It was another idea entirely to strip gems of everything that did make them perfect. Her eyes quickly flickered and and filled with information as she leaned back into her seat. She was going to find the answer, even if she had to sit down and dig through the thousands of files that filled the history archives


End file.
